“Lily, you better be careful. Don’t do anything stupid.” She sounded like my mom.
“You should see what I’m wearing. Here, I’ll take a selfie and text it to you.” I stared at my phone for a moment, but suddenly it seemed too complicated to figure out how to work.
“Oh lord.” I heard her mutter.
I put the phone back up to my ear. “Becs, I gotta go. I’m next in the bathroom. And I gotta get back to Jason.”
I heard a few words, “Lily, don’t forget he’s your –” before I hung up.
After I finished in the bathroom and touched up my makeup, I headed back to our table on the terrace. Jason slid down the couch, so that I could sit on the outside.
“Would you like another drink?”
Becca’s warning was fresh in my mind. “I better not. I’m feeling a little tipsy.”
A few seconds of silence, stretched on. Without Rina and Adam, things were slightly awkward.
Jason looked at me and frowned. “Maybe we should head back to the hotel.”
The cab ride back to the hotel was silent. Jason sat in the back seat with me, but I noticed he made sure to keep a distance between us. I was already feeling disappointed with the abrupt end to our night and his distance only made me feel more out of sorts. Had I misread that moment between us?
We got back to our hotel. There was a moment, in the elevator, when it first started climbing upwards, that I was unsteady on my feet. I swayed slightly and clutched for the wall. Jason steadied my arm and then insisted on walking me to my door, even though he was staying on a different floor.
What happened next was a bit hazy. The alcohol had definitely caught up to me. I was far beyond tipsy.
I stood at my door, keycard in hand. “Thanks for a wonderful evening. I had a great time.”
I think I decided to hug him. I’m not sure. Somehow, my arms worked there way around his neck. And then, we were kissing.
Not a chaste peck on the lips. A real kiss. The kind that curls your toes and melts your panties.
He pulled away from my lips and untangled himself from my arms.
I stared at him, eyes wide with remorse. Words started spilling from my mouth, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean that to happen…”
His finger touched my lip to quiet me. “Shhh. Go to bed.”
I stumbled into my room and kicked off my heels. I just accosted my boss. Did I just fuck up everything?
My last thoughts as I staggered over to my bed and just before I passed out were wondering if I’d be fired in the morning.
Chapter 16
Jason gritted his teeth and headed back to the elevator. He was wound up so tight; he wasn’t sure how he’d ever sleep.
His phone chimed. It was a text message from Adam.
< You still up?
He typed in a reply.
He stepped into the elevator and sighed.
A few seconds went by before Adam answered.
He took the elevator down to the ground floor and headed for the bar. Adam was sitting alone on a barstool nursing a drink; the place was practically deserted. Jason slid onto the seat next to him.
The bartender shuffled over to them. “Last call, boys. I’m closing up.”
Jason ordered a seltzer water and Adam shook his head to decline another drink.
Adam finally broke the silence. “Rina couldn’t stop talking about Lily. Looks like she found a new BFF.”
Jason agreed. “Yeah, they seem to get along fine.”
Adam took a sip of his drink. “You have feelings for her?”
Jason grunted. “What do you mean – have feelings?”
“You know what I mean.”
“She works for me. My only feelings for her are as an employee.” His words rang false.
“So, you’re not attracted to her at all?” He could tell that Adam didn’t believe him.
He ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Jesus Christ, Adam. What’s this - the third degree? I mean, I’m not blind. Of course she attractive…”
“You seemed a little uptight tonight.” Adam was watching him closely. “You’ve been around tons of hot women before, but I’ve never seen you act the way around a woman like you did tonight. It was obvious something was different.”
“Well, it was an awkward situation. Yeah, I’m attracted to her, but she’s my goddamned employee.” His voice grew heated as he gave way to some frustration.
“So you do have feelings for her.” It was more of a statement than a question.
Jason gulped at his water before replying coolly, “Yeah, I’d like to fuck her brains out, bro. Is that what you want to hear? But I can’t. And it’s driving me crazy.”
Adams hand slammed down on the bar. “Damn, my wife was right. I lost the bet! I owe Rina big time.”
“You made a bet? About me and Lilliana?” He arched an eyebrow. “What do you owe her?”
Adam was grinning ear to ear. “You don’t want to know, bro. But let’s just say I won’t have any trouble paying up.”
Hearing about Adam and Rina’s domestic bliss wasn’t improving his mood any.
Adam broke into his thoughts. “So, what’s stopping you? Rina thinks that Lily is interested in you, too. Christ, feels like we’re in high school, man.”
He debated telling his friend about Corporate Secrets. He was so confused as to what it all meant, but he just couldn’t. It seemed too intimate of a detail about Lilliana that he didn’t want to share with anyone. He thought that it would almost be like a betrayal to her.
“What’s stopping me is that I’m her boss.”
Adam shook his head in disbelief. “What’s the good of being the boss, the goddamned CEO of a company, and having fuck-you money, if you can’t even fuck a girl you have the hots for?”
Jason stared into his drink bitterly. “It’s not fair to Lilliana. I don’t want to do that to her. She deserves better.”
“Better than you?”
“Yes, better than me.” Jason elaborated, “What if I fuck her, then what? What happens next? Plus, she could turn around and sue me for fucks sake.”
Adam finished his drink. “That’s bullshit. She was all over you tonight, bro.”
Jason felt a knife twist deep in his gut as he acknowledged the truth he had been avoiding. “Look at what’s at stake. How can I risk it? I could lose everything. That’s the problem with having fuck-you money.”
“It doesn’t seem like she’d do that. I think she likes you too.” Adam’s voice was quieter.
Jason shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Tell Rina to reign in her matchmaking.”
Adam smiled. “I’d like to help you out, bro. But you know I can’t tell Rina to do anything.”
The two friends parted and Jason headed back to his room.
Adam’s words were ringing in his head. Jason knew that Lilliana was definitely attracted to him. Hell, Corporate Secrets had made that obvious. And the way she physically responded to him was telling. Maybe her feelings for him even ran deeper than just sexual attraction.
But taking advantage of her, just to relieve his insatiable hunger for her, was impossible. What he wanted with Lilliana was not just a roll in the hay, anyway. He wanted more. But, what was it?
Would he risk his company for her? His money? Would he be willing to give it all up just to find the kind of happiness with her that Adam had found with Rina?
If he had asked himself that question only a few short months ago, his answer would have been - not in a million years. He had always been certain that he was living the best life possible. There was a new, beautiful woman on his arm every night. And, a different one in his bed. He enjoyed the prestige and sense of pride at having built a successful company, and he had the money to do whatever he wanted.
So, why was he feeling so
miserable? Just because he couldn’t get inside one woman’s pants? He corrected himself. It wasn’t just any woman. It was Lilliana.
What was he going to do about her?
Chapter 17
I woke up confused, at first, as to where I was. A phone was ringing somewhere. My mouth was horridly dry and my head was pounding. Slowly, it all started coming back to me. Going out to the club. Getting drunk. Kissing Jason. Did that really happen?
I groaned and gingerly propped open one eye. I looked around the hotel room, trying to locate the origin of the head-splitting noise. The phone was on the far nightstand.
Half-rolling, half-crawling, I worked my way across the bed to the phone. I was disgusted when I realized I hadn’t even bothered to pull off my $1,200 dress before passing out the night before.
Somehow, I finally managed to pull the receiver off the phone. “Hello?”
It was Rina sounding chipper. “Good morning, sleepy head. It’s time to rise and shine.”
“Ugh,” I croaked. “What time is it?”
“After 8:00 already.”
I collapsed onto my back. “I need a couple more hours to sleep off this hangover.”
I heard the tinkling sound of her laughter. “Sorry, we’re on a tight schedule. Ship sails at 10 AM.”
“Did you say ship? Ugh. Just the sound of it makes me nauseous.”
Rina ignored me. “Wear that gorgeous bikini with the sarong tied the way I showed you.”
“What? Are you serious? A real ship?” I sat up and suspicion started to creep through me. “Is that why you insisted that I buy it? You knew all along…”
She cut me off. “You better start getting ready, darling, Jason will be knocking on your door in less than 30 minutes.”
“What!” Panic began to set in. “I’m not even showered.”
“Just throw on your bathing suit and put your hair up. Easy peasy. Oh, and darling, bring whatever you need to get ready for that awards dinner tonight. We won’t make it back in time for you to get ready at the hotel; you’ll have to get ready on the yacht. So bring all your toiletries and your outfit, of course.”
“Rina! I don’t have time to do all that! Did you say a yacht?”
She sounded calm. “Yes, a yacht. It’ll be marvelous. Now, hurry up.”
“But, I can’t go. Not after last night.” I winced as the vivid memory of unceremoniously hauling Jason down for a kiss replayed itself in my mind. It really wasn’t just a dream.
“Of course you can. Now, go get ready.”
How could I have been so stupid? “I’ll probably end up fired, after last night.”
“I doubt it, darling,” she replied drily. “He couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”
“Rina, if you only knew…” I heard the note of despair in my voice.
She sighed. “I talked to him this morning, Lily. He’s excited to be going. And he wants you to come along. You can ask him yourself in – let me see …20 minutes, if you don’t believe me. Tick tock!”
With that, she hung up the phone. I jumped out of bed, a string of curses trailing after me, as I ran into the bathroom. There was no way I was slipping into that miniature excuse for a bikini without first taking a shower.
After I finished showering, I put on the bikini and reassessed it with a new critical eye. When I was trying it on, I didn’t know that Jason was going to see me in it. Was it too sexy? Did it reveal too much? I was blessed with a great figure, a generous bust and curvy hips, without appearing pudgy. Still, I wasn’t used to showing off so much skin, but I had no other choice. It was the only swimsuit I had.
Quickly, I put on a minimum amount of makeup, just enough to even out my skin tone and then a light coat of coral lip-gloss. With my fake tan, my face didn’t look too bad without makeup. In fact, I was thankful that I had allowed Rina to talk me into the ridiculous spray tan, because it looked great.
I spent the most time organizing the items I needed for the awards dinner that was later that night. After my bag was packed, I pulled the silky sarong with the colorful flowers out of the shopping bag. I stood in front of the mirror, crisscrossing the ends around my bust and then twisting. I twisted the remainder of the long fabric into taut straps and then tied them loosely around my neck. I wasn’t an expert at tying a sarong, so the overall length turned out shorter than I’d like.
I was still trying to adjust it, when I heard the knock at my door. I froze in place like a deer caught in headlights. How could I face him after what I had done last night? He had every right to harshly reprimand me. Fire me, even!
I stared at my reflection in dismay as another knock, louder this time, sounded at the door. With growing trepidation settling in the pit of my stomach, I realized my biggest fear was that he would use this one tiny slip to mock me. When he wanted to eviscerate his opponents, he was ruthless. Surely, he would be kinder to me?
Dragging my feet, I slowly trudged to the door like a prisoner heading to the gallows. In a moment of weakness, I had let my foolish crush, which had intensified a thousand-fold by recording my secret fantasies to paper, get the best of me. These inappropriate feelings had been bubbling up for months; now I had to face the consequences.
Smiling tentatively, I opened the door. In a last desperate fleeting hope, I thought maybe I could just ignore the whole situation. I swallowed nervously. “Good morning, Mr. Kaine.”
An amused smile curved his lips. “Mr. Kaine? I thought we were past all that.”
“R-right,” I stuttered, not able to look him in the eyes. “Jason.”
“Are you ready to go?”
My hands were twisting into pretzels. “I’m not sure I should really go… maybe I should attend some meetings, since this is the –”
Jason looked me up and down. “You want to go to meetings? Dressed like that?”
“No, no – I just meant that…” My voice trailed off. He had me completely flustered.
“Is this about last night?” he asked directly.
I felt my already heated cheeks flame hotter. “Uh, I’m not… I didn’t mean…”
“Forget it ever happened.” He shrugged it off as if it weren’t important.
He was giving me a free pass. It was far better than I could have hoped. So why did I suddenly feel so deflated? Because, I knew I could never forget about it.
I couldn’t think of a reply that didn’t sound foolish.
Luckily, I didn’t have to. Jason grabbed the bag resting by the door. “Are you bringing this? Anything else?”
“No,” I managed to squeak out.
I grabbed my handbag and allowed Jason to guide me out of the room. We walked together silently toward the elevator. Jason seemed to have moved completely beyond my faux pas. If he could do it, so could I. I would just have to act like nothing had happened. Pretend I’d never made a complete fool of myself. Simple.
We rode the elevator down to the lobby in silence. To my utter dismay, the first thing I saw when the doors opened was Bill Travers. Here I was, dressed in a revealing bikini, thankfully mostly hidden by the sarong; but still it was quite obvious that I was going out for the day with my boss instead of attending the company meetings. Even though our outing was completely innocent in nature, I felt guilty as hell. It was probably written all over my face too, as I remembered just how unprofessional I was with Jason the night before.
Bill approached us, the knowing sneer on his face making me even more uncomfortable. “Well, well, Lilliana. We bump into each other again! Looks like you’re certainly enjoying yourself here in Miami. It’s very kind of Jason to keep you occupied.”
I could see by the clench of Jason’s jaw that he was annoyed with the man. “Would you excuse us, Lilliana? I just need to speak with Bill for a moment.”
The two men stepped aside and spoke privately for a few minutes. Jason returned when they were finished and led me outside to a waiting cab. We didn’t talk at all on the ride to the marina. Whatever he and Bill discussed had put him in a decided
ly sour mood.
Even though it was early, the sun was already burning hot when we stepped out of the cab. I followed Jason as he led me past moored boats, both large and small, and even past some shops, a restaurant and a refueling station.
He led me down a long floating walkway until we stopped in front of the yacht. I didn’t know much about boats, but this one was big and impressive.
Rina stood up on the deck of the yacht and waved down to us. “There you are, darlings! Come aboard. The mimosas are waiting for you.”
The word ‘mimosa’ got a groan from me and made Jason smile. “Not ready for the mimosas yet?”
“Not quite. But I’m glad that I let Rina talk me into this trip. This yacht looks amazing!”
I was happy to see him smiling again. “Rina had to talk you into it?”
“Well, let’s just say she wore me down in my weakened state. You were right – there’s no use arguing with her.”
He nodded his agreement. “Ever.”
The captain greeted us as we boarded and shook hands with Jason. Soon after, Rina and Adam joined us. Rina linked her arm in mine and enthusiastically took me on a ‘tour’ of the yacht while Jason and Adam left with the captain. It wasn’t for close to an hour after we set off that I saw Jason again.
Rina and I paused our tour in the galley where we stopped to graze on the extravagant brunch that was spread out. I decided to forgo the mimosa for a strong cup of coffee and only picked at the wide variety of offerings.
After I had eaten, when my hangover was in full retreat, Rina and I headed out to the deck. The sun was already hot, but the salty spray and wind kept the temperature refreshing.
Rina slipped out of her cover-up to reveal a model-thin body that probably spent many hours out of every week at the gym. “Might as well catch some rays and at least pretend some of this tan is real.”
I sat down on the bench, reluctant to take off my sarong. It seemed indecent to parade around almost naked in front of my boss, but wouldn’t I look even stranger if I refused to take it off?
Rina giggled and looked at me over the rim of her sunglasses. “I can tell you’re dying over there. Feeling a little prudish?”
Impossible (to Resist) Boss: Billionaire Romance Page 11